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Sunday, 30 September 2012

It's on days like this that mustering the will to whip up a post is hardest -after losing a game especially one we contrived fantastically well to throw. I realise now how easy it is to pound out words on my key boards when the joy of winning a game and the attendant adrenaline are there to fuel enthusiasm. Fuck it, I'm not a reporter who has to objectively tackle the job of sending in a report to his editors on the Arsenal vs Chelsea game. No, I am an obsessive Arsenal fan who is maliciously satisfied when United or any other team I consider competition lose a game. I am an Arsenal addict whose perfect fix is an Arsenal win. That didn't happen yesterday so it's cold turkey day.

Friday, 28 September 2012

It's that day of the week again that allows for a little irresponsibility for those who have worked hard all week. Yes, you can be forgiven if you let your hair down this one day of the week and guzzle a drum but only if you are sure, you can walk a straight line afterwards, must not slur your speech, must not topple over without support, must not fall asleep at the bar and under no circumstances should you disgorge the beans you ate at lunch within sight of men. You've been warned. Big brother will be watching.

Let's get on with it: Yesterday, a Hendon Magistrates' Court, in North-West London banned our adorable, sunny, Brazilian left-back from driving for the next twelve months with a £2,300 fine to boot after the court found him guilty of leading police officers on a merry old spin around London while driving at between 135mph-145mph which is double the 70mph speed limit. He eventually pulled up at the London Colney training center where he told the police officers he had been driving so fast because he was running late for training and his music had been so loud that he didn't hear the sirens while the officers were chasing him.

Thursday, 27 September 2012

I missed my very first game of the new season last night on a night Giroud broke that stubborn metal duck of his while the team over-ran Coventry 6-1 in the 3rd round of the Capital One cup. I wasn't alone in missing the game as the game was not televised in my neck of the woods or anywhere else for that matter it seems and Gooners from all over the world could only follow via live commentaries on the net, gamecasts and twitter updates.

For a competition that has largely been considered as low priority, it's amazing how much demand there was in Goonerland for updates and the excitement was palpable as news filtered through on Twitter that Arsenal had gone a goal up in the 39th minute from no other than Olivier Giroud. While Gooners around the world were happy that we were one goal up, we were even happier that it had come from the handsome Frenchman. That one goal many have touted that he needs to unlock the flood-gate of goals in him has finally arrived. The opportunity came sooner he expected to add to his tally in the form of a penalty but it wasn't to be -his well hit penalty was saved by the Coventry keeper so we have to wait a while longer to see how much water is behind the flood-gates.

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

The League Cup -or better known these days as the Capital One Cup after its current sponsors- has kicked off once again. It's a competition that's considered low priority by the big clubs maybe because of the £100k prize money that is awarded by the Football League to the winners -WTF is that? £100k?

The big clubs see the competition as an opportunity to give younger players and fringe players a run out which usually paves the way for giants slaying by the smaller clubs who usually take it quite seriously since it may be their only chance to get their hands on a trophy and then provides a short cut to Europe to feature in the Europa League.

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Theo has spoken up about his contract situation and as expected it has generated quite an animated buzz in Goonerland. He's moved to squash speculations that his over-the-top demands for an improved package is the reason his contract extension has not happened yet.

"That speculation on the money side of it has never been me. That's not me. I'm not the sort of person who's influenced by money. I always make my decisions based on football and only football..."

The LP on which that song was recorded is worn out and all scratched up and the needle gets stuck in a groove all the time. It will keep repeating "not about money" if someone doesn't lift the pin. We've heard it over and over and over again. It is a tired tune.

I was pleased with Sunday's result because a point was the minimum we deserved when you consider what we put into the game.

I was happy also with the quality of our display and our spirit, but I was also a bit frustrated because I feel there was an opportunity to pick up all three points. We had early chances and very late chances, especially when Gervinho missed the target from the edge of the box.

Overall I hope that a result like this will reinforce our belief and confidence and reassure us about our potential in this league.

We conceded a goal from a corner and I take that criticism on board, but it's worth noting that Manchester City are the team who score more goals than anyone else from set pieces.

At the other end of the pitch it is true that we missed chances, and it's important to be clinical in games like this, but I believe that will come. When you have the basic quality that we showed on Sunday, the rest can improve.

Vito Mannone had another good game in goal. He looks very solid. He made a little mistake on the corner for Man City's goal, but I am happy that it didn't affect his game after that. I like what he is doing.

I can confirm that Thomas Vermaelen did not play because he had 'flu so we left him at home.

Laurent Koscielny had a great game and stepped in very well. We have a number of classy centre backs, and it is a very difficult choice. No matter who is left out, they will feel disappointed. But I will rotate the centre backs and take into consideration the strikers we will face.

From the moment Mike Dean wrapped his thin lips around his whistle and blew for kick-off at the Etihad Stadium yesterday till he blew it again to end the game after ninety minutes, we looked good for a result against City. No mean feat considering City is the defending champion and was playing in front of their home fans on a turf they have won 29 of their last 31 games and drew 2 on.

We showed no fear as we took control of the midfield early on and stopped Yaya Toure and Javi Garcia from getting any modicum of grip on that area of the field. Difficult to remember what Silva contributed to the game other than taking corner kicks, one of which Lescott scored from. Even when we went a goal down, we kept our heads up and kept plugging away with the belief that we were the better side on the day and deserved to get a result out of the game and that belief paid off eventually.

Sunday, 23 September 2012

I have no doubt that this afternoon's opponents, Manchester City presents us with our toughest test in this new season for a number of reasons; they are the current champions, the game is in their own backyard and they are known to employ financial dope to improve their performance on the pitch. In fact it's a game that we can't complain about if we come out with a draw and a win will be considered a massive result.

Liverpool away was a tough test in its own way but they are not the league champions and they are a team in transition, struggling for consistency while trying to adapt to a new football philosophy being taught by a new manager. We exploited that vulnerability effectively.

Jack is back! Good news doesn't come better than this, does it? After one full year out of the Arsenal squad he resumed full training on Thursday. Yeah, I know it's a bit too early to get my hopes up considering that he's still a couple of weeks away from any attempt at full action butthe first huddle has been crossed? It's expected that he will be eased back into the team gradually with some cameo appearances when eventually the manager deems him ready to play. One year out of the game is no joke so a bit more patience, guys and the man boy that English football is currently relying on for a return to glory will be ready for selection once again.

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

We've never lost a game in France. Before yesterday's win at Montpellier we had won four and drawn one. Yesterday took it to five wins and one draw as the team showed a reluctance to change the trend even if it was the French champions we were playing.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

The team is in France today for our first Champions League game of the season. Steve Bould will be taking charge in the absence of Wenger who will be starting a three match touchline ban for being naughty. Bould will be in charge on the sidelines and is not allowed to communicate with Wenger for the duration of the match according to Uefa rules and I really do wonder if these rules are not circumvented considering the amount of technologies available to us today for covert communications.

Monday, 17 September 2012

I was delighted with the high level of our performance on Saturday, especially in the first half.

We had a good combination of pace, speed in our passing, quick combinations, and the movement was excellent. We were a bit lucky as well because Southampton conceded two own goals, but overall I think it was another step forward from what we showed at Liverpool.

Arsenal 6 - Southampton 1
After the first two games of this season against Sunderland and Stoke City, when we did not score a single goal, I must admit I started to wonder where our goals were going to come from this season. I mean, we had sold the most prolific striker in the premiership during the summer and brought in three players with a lot of promise that on paper made us look a much better team than we were last term but after both games, it looked like it was going to be a while before the team will gel as a unit and start delivering on that promise.

Saturday, 15 September 2012

It's match day at last and am I glad it is? After a two week international break I have developed all the withdrawal symptoms of a junkie -anxiety, dilated pupils, agitation, goose bumps, sweating, yawning. Have to seriously start considering rehab.

Our opponents today is Southampton FC, the team that gave us Walcott and The Ox. Southampton was relegated to the Championship in 2005 after playing in the top flight for 27 consecutive years. In 2009 they were again relegated to League 1. That seemed to be the spur they needed to knuckle down as they gained back-to-back promotion to find themselves back in the Premiership after spending one year in the third tier of English football guided by their new manager, Nigel Adkins.

Friday, 14 September 2012

Arsene Wenger's press conference yesterday ahead of this weekend's home game against Southampton provided enough material to make up for the dearth of Arsenal news for the past two weeks while the international break lasted. He never disappoints when he has a microphone (or a bank of them as in this instance) stuck in his face. As usual he shot from the hips.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Ivan Gazidis' interview yesterday in The Telegraph in which he paid glowing tribute to Arsene Wenger is the topic of most conversations this morning. Depending on which side of the pro and Anti Wenger divide you find yourself in, you may or may not agree with the club's plan to offer Wenger an extension of his contract beyond 2014 when it's due to expire.

“It’s not a sense of sentimentalism, not a reward for services, it’s a belief that we have an incredible manager who loves this club and is the best man to lead us forward,”

The excerpt above is one that has drawn the ire of fans who believe that a lack of trophies in the past seven years hardly qualifies Wenger as the "the best man to lead us forward."

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

The last of the international games were played yesterday evening; thank goodness for that. Now we can all turn our attentions to some real football this weekend.

Before we do that though we need to take stock and assess the state the boys who left to do battle for their countries have returned in.

I guess everyone's biggest worry was Abou Diaby; he was mine. After what I saw him do against Liverpool in the last domestic game before the international break, I believe he's an integral part of this team and it was with trepidation that I watched him go off to play for his country. The France game against Finland was not aired in my neck of the woods but I monitored it closely and was glad to hear he scored the game's only goal. I was even more glad to hear that he came out of it unscathed.

Monday, 10 September 2012

The international break has deprived us of watching the Arsenal for a whole week now but thankfully it's just a few more days to go before we get back on track.

I am the type of Arsenal junkie that trolls all types of internet media for news, opinions, editorials etc for anything Arsenal related. I came across this video below in the course of my travails and I thought it was worth sharing.

Friday, 7 September 2012

Bacary Sagna's interview with L'Equipe yesterday caused quite a stir amongst the faithful and rightly so. It had a theme that we've become familiar with over the past couple of years. A theme that usually culminates in the subject exiting the club sooner than later.

Just to be clear, Sagna did not say anything different from what Arsenal fans, football pundits and any followers of the Premiership for that matter have not said in the past few years. Each answer to the questions that was posed was an understatement.

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

I was very pleased with the quality of our performance at Liverpool, both offensively and defensively.

In our first two games we showed some potential but we lacked spark going forward and we are getting that now. It was a good win, there is strong potential in this squad and a positive energy. That is something we can build on.

Monday, 3 September 2012

When the euphoria of finally scoring a goal this season and ultimately winning against Liverpool wore off yesterday, came the chance to assess the feat of going three straight games without conceding nada. Match that against this time last season -we had lost 2 games and conceded 10 goals and went on in that vein for the rest of the season as we leaked goals like a basket with bullet holes.